JP2003207240A - Auger type ice maker - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an auger type ice maker having an ice making cylinder capable of manufacturing stable-quality, moistureless and hard ice by the dehydrating action by complete compression capable of removing almost all moisture from the ice introduced to a compression passage by effectively transmitting push-up force of the ice by an auger to the compression passage of a pressing head needless to say to prevent synchronous rotation with the auger of the ice scratched off by the auger from an inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder. <P>SOLUTION: This auger type ice maker is formed by applying a spiral streak 11 to an inner peripheral surface of the vertical ice making cylinder 1 by crossing in the shaft direction for preventing rotation in the circumferential direction while compressing the ice scratched off from the inner peripheral surface by the auger 3 in the shaft direction of the ice making cylinder 1 according to transfer by the auger 3, and a crossing angle θ crossing in the shaft direction of this spiral streak 11 is set to 90 to 110°, and is desirably set to 100°. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an auger type ice making machine, and more particularly to improvement of an ice making cylinder in which an ice layer grows due to freezing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an auger is provided to prevent the ice layer growing on the inner peripheral surface of an ice making cylinder from being rotated in synchronization with the auger when the ice layer is scraped off by the auger and pushed up and transferred to an upper pressing head. There is known an auger-type ice-making machine in which a vertical line mark parallel to the axial direction of is provided on the inner peripheral surface of an ice-making cylinder. That is, by preventing the synchronous rotation with the auger, the ice that is pushed up and transferred to the upper pressing head while being scraped off from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder by the auger is smoothly introduced into the compression passage of the pressing head. In addition, most of the water is removed by being compressed in the compression passage and the ice (column of ice) that is adjusted to a bar shape and the ice that is continuously pushed up and transferred (interruption)
Is to prevent. Further, the transfer (elevation) of the ice to the pressing head, which is caused by the rotation of the ice in synchronization with the auger, is stopped, making it impossible to make the ice or generating an unpleasant noise.

[0003]

By the way, in this type of auger type ice making machine, as shown in FIG. 3, ice making water is filled up to a predetermined level L in an ice making cylinder, and in this state, a refrigerant pipe on the outer circumference is used. When the ice making cylinder is cooled to below the freezing point, an ice layer gradually grows due to freezing on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder. Then, while the ice-making water is filled to the predetermined level L in this way, the ice layer containing water that grows on the inner peripheral surface of the ice-making cylinder is scraped off by the spiral blade of the auger, and still the spiral space between the spiral blades. While being gradually accumulated, the particles are pushed up and transferred to be introduced into the compression passage of the pressing head. The ice introduced into this compression passage is gradually compressed in the compression passage by the push-up force (raising force) of the ice that is continuously pushed up and transferred by the auger, and most of the water content is dehydrated and removed by the dehydration action by this compression. It is shaped like a hard rod. The icicles arranged in the shape of rods hit the ice-folding portions that are connected to the upper part of the compression passages to become ice blocks that are folded into chips of appropriate size. That is, the fact that the push-up force of the ice that is continuously pushed up and transferred to the pressing head by the auger is effectively and effectively transmitted to the compression passage whose cross-sectional area gradually decreases upward is Therefore, a large compressive force necessary for removing most of the water is obtained, and this compressive force provides an effective dehydrating action for removing most of the water from the ice.

However, in the conventional auger type ice making machine, the water-containing ice scraped off from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder has only vertical stripe marks, and its moving direction (the axial direction of the ice making cylinder). ) Is pushed up to the pressing head while being accumulated in the spiral space between the upper and lower spiral blades of the auger with almost no frictional resistance, the spiral transferred to the vicinity of the inlet of the compression passage of the pressing head. The ice that accumulates in the space remains fluffy and soft with a lot of water. Therefore,
In the conventional auger type ice making machine, the pushing force (lifting force) of the ice that is continuously pushed up and transferred by the auger is not effectively and effectively transmitted to the compression passage of the pressing head. Most of the water is dehydrated and not fully compressed. In other words, it is difficult to form hard ice blocks with little water content. Therefore, the soft ice block made by the conventional auger type ice making machine is big in terms of quality that it melts in a short time when it is added to ice coffee and other drinking water and the taste of drinking water is diminished. I had a problem.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional circumstances, and its object is to prevent the synchronous rotation of the ice scraped by the auger from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder with the auger. Of course, the pushing force of the ice by the auger is effectively and effectively transmitted to the compression passage of the pressing head to remove most of the water from the ice introduced into the compression passage. Another object of the present invention is to provide an auger-type ice making machine equipped with an ice making cylinder capable of producing stable hard ice having less water content.

[0006]

In order to achieve the object, according to the present invention, a vertical ice making cylinder and an ice layer coaxially arranged in the ice making cylinder and formed on the inner peripheral surface thereof by growth due to ice formation are provided. An auger that moves upward while scraping, a refrigerant pipe that is closely wound and fixed to the outer periphery of the ice making cylinder, and a pressing member that is fixedly arranged on the upper portion of the ice making cylinder on the rotation axis of the auger. In an auger type ice making machine equipped with a head, when the ice scraped from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder is pushed up to the upper pressing head by the auger and is transferred to the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder, in the transfer direction. A spiral streak that compresses and prevents simultaneous rotation with the auger is made to intersect in the axial direction of the ice making cylinder, and the crossing angle at which the spiral streak intersects in the axial direction is 90.
It is set to ~ 110 °, and preferably set to 100 °. In the present invention, the spiral streak in the parameter definition is Ra: 1.75 ± 0.3 μm, which is the arithmetic mean value of the profile displacement amount from the mean line, and Ry is the maximum value of Rti within the evaluation length. 16.0 ± 3.0 μm
Rz: The difference between the average of the deepest valleys up to the fifth and the average of the highest peaks up to the fifth within the evaluation length is 7.5 ± 1.5 μm. Here, Rti is the height from the deepest valley to the deepest mountain within the reference length. According to such technical means, the ice scraped off by the auger from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder is a spiral provided on the inner peripheral surface intersecting at an intersecting angle θ of 90 to 110 ° in the axial direction of the ice making cylinder. In the state in which the synchronous rotation with the auger is prevented by the scratches, it is pushed up and transferred toward the upper pressing head while being compressed.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A specific example of the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an example of an embodiment of an ice making cylinder 1 in an auger type ice making machine of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a vertical cross section showing an example of the entire configuration of an auger type ice making machine manufactured by incorporating it into the ice making cylinder. As shown in the figure, the reduced pressure refrigerant is fed into and circulated in a refrigerant pipe 2 which is tightly wound in a spiral shape around the outer circumference of the ice making cylinder 1 to cool the ice making cylinder 1 to below the freezing point, and a predetermined level L in the ice making cylinder 1 The ice layer X-1 where ice-making water that has been filled up to freezes and grows on the inner surface of the same auger 3
By pushing up and transporting it to the upper pressing head 4 while scraping it by the above, and introducing it into the compression passage 5 of the pressing head 4,
Most of the water content is removed by the dehydration effect of compression, and it is made into a hard rod shape. When this ice column X-2 hits the ice folding part 6 connected to the upper part of the compression passage 5, it is folded into chips of appropriate size. It becomes the ice block X. In this way, the hard ice blocks X having a low water content are continuously manufactured. The ice blocks X are stocked in an ice storage unit (not shown).

The ice making cylinder 1 is mounted on the drive housing 8 via a support body 7 which is fixedly fitted and mounted on the lower side.
It is composed of a stainless steel cylindrical tube which is vertically set up by bolts and the like, and an inlet 9 and an outlet 10 of ice making water are attached to the lower side, and the inlet 9 is made to a predetermined level L in the ice making cylinder 1 to make ice. The ice making water is supplied so that it is filled with water and the predetermined level L thereof is kept constant, while the outlet 10 is replaced or circulated to prevent the ice making water from settling and becoming dirty water. The ice making water is drained to the outside when performing. Further, a pressing head 4 is fixedly fitted and mounted on the upper side of the ice making cylinder 1 by bolting or the like, and the pressing head 4 has a compression passage 5 whose cross-sectional area gradually decreases upward toward the peripheral surface. In addition, it has an outwardly upwardly tapered ice-folding portion 6 at the top, and the ice that is pushed up and transferred by the auger 2 is introduced into the compression passage 5 and gradually compressed, so that most of the water content is reduced. Dehydration is performed to remove the icicles, and by this compression dehydration, icicles X-2 arranged in a hard rod shape are continuously formed. Then, the ice pillar X-2, which is formed in a rod shape in the compression passage 5, hits the ice folding portion 6 at the upper portion and is broken into a chip shape to become an ice block X (see FIG. 3).

Further, according to the present invention, while the ice scraped by the auger 3 is pushed up and transferred to the upper pressing head 4 on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder 1, while the ice is being compressed in the transfer direction, Ice making cylinder 1 with spiral streak 11 to prevent synchronous rotation with auger 3
It is provided so as to intersect in the axial direction. In the present invention, spiral streak
The crossing angle θ intersecting in the axial direction of the ice making cylinder 1 of 11 is 90
Setting in the range of up to 110 ° is important for establishing the present invention. The reason is that when the intersecting angle θ is 90 ° or less, the synchronous rotation of the ice scraped by the auger 3 from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder 1 can be reliably prevented, but
The ice cannot be pushed up and transferred to the upper pressing head 4 while being effectively compressed. That is, in order to effectively and effectively transmit to the compression passage 5 the pressing force that effectively increases the compression force required to dehydrate and remove most of the water from the ice in the compression passage 5 of the pressing head 4, This is because the compressing action of gradually compressing the ice so as to remove water from the ice accumulated in the spiral space between the spiral blades 12 can not be obtained. On the other hand, when the intersecting angle θ exceeds 110 °, contrary to the case of 90 ° described above, the ice is compressed and pushed up to the upper pressure head 4 to be transferred to effectively increase the compression force in the compression passage 5. This is because the pressing force can be effectively and effectively transmitted to the compression passage 5, but the synchronous rotation of the ice with the auger 3 may be reliably prevented.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the ice making cylinder 1 having the spiral streaks 11 is formed.
The crossing angle θ in the axial direction of the is set in the range of 90 to 110 °, but when the ice scraped by the auger 3 is pushed up and transferred to the upper pressing head 4, the ice is compressed in the transfer direction. In addition, it is intended to prevent the ice from rotating in synchronization with the auger 3, and the desired intersection angle θ is 100 °.

Further, in the present invention, it is important to set the spiral streak 11 in the parameter definition as follows. Ra: The arithmetic mean value of the profile displacement amount from the average line is 1.75 ± 0.3 μm, and Ry: The maximum value of Rti within the evaluation length is 16.0 ± 3.0 μm.
Rz: The difference between the average of the deepest valley up to the fifth and the average of the highest peak up to the fifth within the evaluation length is 7.5 ± 1.5 μm. Here, Rti is the height from the deepest valley to the deepest mountain within the reference length.

The cross-sectional shape of the spiral streak 11 is not particularly limited, but it is formed in a substantially V shape in the illustrated example.

The auger 3 has a large-diameter main body 13 provided with a spiral blade 12 at a predetermined spiral pitch on the outer peripheral surface thereof, and a small-diameter shaft portion 13-1 at the upper end of the main body 13 has a shaft core hole of the pressing head 4. Is rotatably supported in the ice making cylinder 1 by being rotatably supported by the bearing 14 fitted into the ice making cylinder 1 and the small diameter shaft portion 13-2 at the lower end is rotatably supported by the bearing 15 fitted in the supporting body 7. Built in built-in. And, the small diameter shaft portion 13-2 at the lower end having the spline 16
Is connected to an output shaft 18 of a drive motor by a spline joint 17, and is driven and rotated at a required rotation speed (rpm) by the power from the output shaft 15 and the ice-making cylinder 1 is rotated by a spiral blade 12.
While scraping off the ice layer X-1 from the inner surface of the above, the ice layer X-1 is pushed up toward the pressing head 4 and transferred.

Incidentally, in the present invention, by setting the blade edge thickness of the spiral blade 12 to about 1 to 3 mm, the ice layer X-1 can be easily scraped off, and an excessive load is applied to the growing ice layer X-1. It is designed to prevent the auger 3 from receiving a vibration and causing a runout of the rotation axis. Then, the thickness is gradually increased from the blade edge toward the base portion connected to the main body portion 13.

Next, a brief description will be given of an auger type ice making machine manufactured by incorporating the ice making cylinder 1 configured as described above. Ice containing water that grows by freezing from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder 1. When the layer X-1 is scraped off so as to be peeled off by the spiral blade 12 of the auger 3, the ice layer X-1 growing from the inside of the spiral streak 11 to the inner peripheral surface is moved upward by the spiral blade 12 by the streak 11. A downward force, that is, a compressive force is exerted on the scraping up. Due to this compressive force, the ice scraped off on the lower spiral blade 12 of the spiral space is compressed and accumulated and pushed up and transferred to the pressing head 4. During this transfer process, water is removed by compression from the ice that gradually accumulates in the spiral space. In this way, the lower spiral blade 12
Since water is gradually removed from the ice containing water that gradually accumulates on the top by compression, the accumulation state of the ice in the spiral space gradually becomes denser as it approaches the upper pressing head 4. Go (state of Figure 3).

Therefore, according to the present invention, the pushing-up force (raising force) of the ice by the auger 3 is effectively and effectively transmitted to the compression passage 5 of the pressing head 4, so that the ice is almost removed from the compression passage 5 in the compression passage 5. The necessary compressive force is obtained to completely dehydrate and remove the water. As a result, the ice introduced into the compression passage is conditioned into a hard rod shape in which most of the water is dehydrated and removed, and the ice column X-2 formed into a rod shape is formed in the ice-folding portion 6 connected to the upper portion of the compression passage 5. By hitting, it becomes an ice block X folded into a chip of an appropriate size.

[0017]

Since the auger type ice making machine of the present invention is constructed as described above, it has the following operational effects. The ice scraped off by the auger from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder is synchronized with the auger by the spiral streak provided on the inner peripheral surface by intersecting at an intersecting angle θ of 90 to 110 ° in the axial direction of the ice making cylinder. In the prevented state, it is pushed up and transferred while being compressed toward the upper pressing head. As a result, the ice scraped from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder by the auger is accumulated on the lower spiral blade of the spiral space while being compressed so as to remove water, and the accumulation state of the ice in the spiral space is higher than that of the upper side. Since the ice density gradually increases as it approaches the pressing head, the ice pushing force of the auger is effectively and effectively transmitted to the compression passage of the pressing head.

Further, since the intersecting spiral streaks are formed on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder, the intersecting portions of the spiral striations serve as growth nuclei of an ice layer that grows due to freezing on the inner peripheral surface, and the ice making cylinder It can be expected that a uniform and hard ice layer rapidly grows on the inner peripheral surface when is cooled to below freezing point by the refrigerant pipe. As a result, a hard ice layer grows rapidly on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder from the initial stage when the ice making machine starts the ice making operation. Can be manufactured.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the rotation of the ice scraped by the auger from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder is prevented from rotating in synchronization with the auger, and the pushing force of the ice by the auger is applied to the compression passage of the pressing head. The ice can be shaped into a hard rod under the dehydrating action of a large compressive force capable of effectively and effectively transmitting and removing most of the water from the ice introduced into the compression passage. Therefore, it is possible to produce and provide high-quality ice with stable quality that is never said to melt in a short time even if it is added to ice coffee or other drinking water.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a vertical perspective view showing an example of an embodiment of an ice making cylinder constituting an auger type ice making machine of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing an example of the overall configuration of an auger type ice making machine.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical cross-sectional view showing an enlarged main part, in which ice scraped from the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder is gradually piled up in the spiral space between the spiral blades of the auger and pushed up and transferred to the pressing head. Shows the state in which the pressure head is introduced into the compression passage of the pressing head.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Ice making cylinder 2: Refrigerant pipe 3: Auger 4: Press head 5: Compression passage 6: Ice break 11: spiral streak 12: spiral blade

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A vertical ice making cylinder, an auger which is coaxially arranged in the ice making cylinder and moves upward while scraping an ice layer that grows due to freezing on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder, and an outer periphery of the ice making cylinder. In an auger type ice making machine equipped with a refrigerant pipe wound in a spiral shape in close contact with and fixed to the upper side of the ice making cylinder, an auger is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the ice making cylinder. When the ice scraped by is pushed up to the pressing head and transferred, the spiral streaks that prevent the synchronous rotation with the auger while compressing the ice in the transfer direction are provided so as to intersect in the axial direction, An auger type ice making machine, characterized in that an intersecting angle of the spiral streaks in the axial direction is set to 90 to 110 °. 2. The spiral striation according to claim 1, in the parameter definition, Ra: 1.75 ± 0.3 μm in arithmetic mean value of profile displacement amount from mean line, Ry: Rti within evaluation length. Maximum value of 16.0 ± 3.0 μm
Rz: An auger type ice making machine characterized in that the difference between the average of the deepest valley up to the fifth and the average of the highest mountain up to the fifth within the evaluation length is 7.5 ± 1.5 μm.